Proverbs 23:7 tells us, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." A man's life is a result of his thinking. Philippians tells us a lot about our thinking, our minds. See chapters 2:1-8, 3:15-19, and 4:5-9; but especially note 4:8-9. Verse 8 ends with this admonition: "Think on these things." I say often here at Faith, "If you will tell me what you think, I will tell you how you live. If you will tell me what you think, I will tell you what you will eventually do." I am sure that the events of our lives are shaped by our thoughts or the thoughts of others. When the wrong thoughts are allowed to take root and residence in our minds, they result in wrong actions. 2 Cor. 10:5 admonishes, "Casting down imaginations...bringing into captivity every thought." Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "For the Word of God...is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." There are some necessities of having the mind of Christ. You must be born again to have the mind of Christ. This is when and where the new mind, the renewed mind is created in man.

However, even saved people can have sinful, rebellious, carnal, wayward, selfish thoughts. How can saved people be prepared and ready to respond to Satan's attempt to turn our minds away for God's will and way?

Remember who you belong to; who owns you body, soul, and spirit.

Reckon yourself to be dead to sin.

Relinquish the right to be free to think as you please.

Respond immediately to the Spirit's conviction, or the thought will become an act.

Remind yourself often that Satan's battlefield is your mind and he does not have the right to operate freely there. "Neither give place" to him.

Rejoice in the victory over right thinking, but

Never relax! "Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil...walketh about seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Rehearse the areas that Satan loves to get the advantage in such as anger, anxiety, frustration, selfishness, doubt, jealousy, carnality, laziness, worldliness, unforgiveness, defeat, immorality, and depression as well as a whole world of iniquity. Notice that all these originate in the mind! If you yield your mind to Satan's control, you yield your life to his control.

Please notice in Acts 26:18 Paul's ministry was, "To open their (our) eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Satan gets the advantage when we allow him to cast his fiery darts into our minds. See Eph. 6:16 where we are to take the shield of faith and quench "all the fiery darts of the wicked."